The 43-year-old Dutch Prince Johan Friso was buried in an avalanche while skiing in Austria this month and has been in critical condition in the hospital since being rescued. Recently, bad news emerged: the prince, who has been in a coma, has suffered severe brain damage and may never wake up again. For the past week, the Dutch queen has visited the hospital daily to be with him, and the Dutch prime minister has also issued a statement expressing concern and sorrow.
Almost at the same time, another similar story from the United States has drawn significant attention in the skiing community: just two days after the prince’s accident, an avalanche at a ski resort in Washington state killed three skiers, but the only female survivor escaped death thanks to a high-tech life-saving device — an airbag.
Being buried alive is a terrible feeling “like being stuck in cement, unable to move”
In an avalanche, what kills skiers isn’t the snow but the lack of air. Victims can die from carbon dioxide poisoning due to their own exhaled breath accumulating around them. According to data from the Utah Avalanche Center in the United States, if a buried person is rescued within 15 minutes, there is a 93% chance of survival; after 45 minutes, survival drops to 20%-30%, and after two hours, almost no one survives. Therefore, saving time is key when rescuing someone buried in an avalanche.
The Dutch prince was also wearing a high-tech locating beacon, which helped rescuers find him 20 minutes after he was buried. But the delay was still too long — it took doctors 50 minutes to restart his heart after he had suffered oxygen deprivation. By then, his brain had already suffered irreversible damage.
A locator is a passive distress device. But is there an active life-saving device that can help skiers escape an avalanche as it happens? The airbag worn by the American skier who survived, Sarge Stauffer, was just such a lifesaver.
Sarge Stauffer is a professional skier, and on the day of the accident, she was skiing with several other professionals.
“The avalanche came so fast, I immediately pulled the airbag from my backpack. The next thing I knew, I was tumbling and spinning down the slope for six or seven hundred meters. After that, it felt like I was stuck in cement, unable to move.” Although still buried in snow, the airbag kept her head and hands from being buried under the deepest layers, giving her a crucial chance to escape. Meanwhile, three others caught in the same avalanche, including professional skier Jim Jack, who was competing in the World Pro Ski Tour, died because they were not carrying airbags.
It’s equally regrettable that all of the Dutch prince’s companions were carrying airbags, except for the prince himself.
Avalanche accidents have been unusually frequent this year — no technology is as life-saving as taking safety seriously
Compared to the life-saving function of airbags, their price of $600–$1,000 seems negligible.
The principle behind how they work is actually quite simple: when an avalanche occurs, the airbag deploys, helping the person “float” on the surface of the sliding snow rather than being buried deep underneath. It’s said that the invention was inspired by the real-life experience of a German hunter in the 1970s: during an avalanche, he survived because the body of a deer he was carrying on his shoulder gradually lifted him up to the surface of the snow, giving him the idea.
Researchers are developing more advanced airbags that can deploy automatically when a skier is in danger, without requiring manual activation — because during an avalanche, most people panic and may forget to pull the cord to activate the airbag.
Sarge Stauffer’s survival has made these airbags famous, but avalanche experts have expressed some concern. According to statistics from U.S. weather agencies, there have been an unusually high number of avalanche incidents this season, with six fatal avalanches in the U.S. in just three months. Most of these are caused by weather factors such as storms, but human error is also part of the problem.
“Many skiers, thinking they’re experienced or well-equipped, take risks by skiing in unsafe areas and ignore weather warnings,” said Mark Moore, an avalanche meteorologist at the U.S. Northwest Weather and Avalanche Center. “Avalanches don’t care if you’re a seasoned skier. You can’t always judge or avoid them based on experience. Once you’re caught in one, you’re just hoping for the best.”
Another expert from the same institution, Wadsworth, also pointed out: “The most important thing is learning how to avoid getting into danger in the first place, rather than relying on gear to save you after an avalanche happens.”
How avalanche airbags save lives
Avalanche safety airbags were invented by Swiss avalanche safety expert and engineer Günther Genswein. The airbag is designed like a backpack, worn on the skier’s shoulders. In an emergency such as an avalanche, the user simply pulls a cord to trigger the airbag, which inflates automatically and helps carry the wearer to the surface of the snow.
Once inflated, the airbag covers the area from below the user’s head, along both sides of the shoulders, to the back of the neck and head. It deflates automatically after five minutes, creating a small cavity around the neck and head area. Even if the user is buried under snow, this cavity allows for breathing and increases chances of survival until professional rescue arrives.
Additionally, these safety airbags are designed in bright orange or yellow, making them highly visible against the snow and helping rescuers locate trapped individuals more easily.
